Lula Watch

Lula: A “Useful Moderate” At the Service of Chavez? If Lenin were alive today he might prefer calling someone a “useful moderate” rather than his classic “useful idiot.” This is the role President Lula plays in Latin America today. Whether he is really a moderate is debatable, but there’s no doubt he’s … Read more

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva marks his third year in government and begins the final and most decisive period of his mandate. Presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for October. This is an opportune moment to summarize Lula’s third year at the helm, which was full of great changes in Brazil’s … Read more

“The Lula government, as we knew it, is over.” This is how an Epoca magazine editorial summarized Brazil’s current political crisis. This undeniably serious crisis raises many questions about the future of the president and his administration. Veja magazine says that “Lula is trying to save the government and his legacy” while … Read more

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s trip to Brazil, Colombia, Chile and El Salvador soon after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s stop in Brazil is a sign of the growing importance the Bush Administration is giving to Latin America. Since her installation, the Secretary of State has reiterated that the U.S. must consider Brazil … Read more

Over the last few weeks, high-ranking authorities of the Bush Administration including Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have taken a closer look at the situation in South America. Political analysts and journalists have also commented on a situation that is slowly but surely deteriorating. The intensification … Read more

Two months after its municipal elections, Brazil is at a political impasse. The ballot results showed how the public is ready to put a stop to the country’s leftward march. One immediate and visible consequence of the defeat of the Workers Party (PT) and its government was the fact that some important … Read more

The Brazilian municipal elections ended October 31 with runoff ballots in 44 cities. Given the importance of the cities where Workers Party (PT) candidates were seeking election or re-election, many of these local elections were seen as crucial to the future of the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Someone … Read more

Background On the Elections Every one in Brazil has been talking about the municipal elections. Before the elections, President Lula and the hard core PT nucleus in the government (led by strongman José Dirceu) set in motion initiatives unequivocally aimed at installing a socialist regime with PT hegemony, totalitarian undertones and a … Read more

Land Reform:The Myth and the Reality (A Summary of the book by Mr. Nelson Ramos Barretto) The administration of former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso claimed to have implemented the greatest agrarian land reform project in the world. His successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now wants to expand land reform … Read more